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kklowell · 11-12-2010, 09:38 AM

This one caught my eye, has anyone bought one of these? If so, I'm also curious about the "import duties" mentioned at the end.
http://cgi.ebay.com/new-Dual-Digital-F-C-PID-Temperature-Controller-Control-/180586554657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0bcc 2521

samc · 11-12-2010, 02:33 PM

Don't have one, but EBAY sellers who warn me upfront about not leaving negative feedback scare me. Better off paying a few more $$$ and buying from a US based company like Auberins.com and getting real support if you need it.

**kal** · 11-12-2010, 03:20 PM

Buyers are always 100% protected when buying on eBay since eBay will step in and refund if you if there are issues and the seller turns out to be a deadbeat (eBay owns PayPal).

I often feel much safer buying from eBay than any other unkown store due to this protection you have. With any other place it's you against them.

Now Suyi at Auberins OTOH is a great guy so I'd have no issues buying from him (and have done so many times in the past).

But if it's up against small online store online that I've never dealt with in the past vs buying from someone else (or even the same seller) off eBay, I choose eBay all the time for the extra safety net.

Now about the PID in question: The only thing it doesn't seem to have is manual mode- useful for the boil kettle. You didn't say how you want to use the PID so I don't know if it matters.

Import duties are fees you may or may not have to pay when you purchase something worth more than about $20-30 from outside your own country (check your customs office for exact details). This PID ships from Hong Kong. For what it's worth, I've bought tons of stuff from HK sellers and they always mark the packages lower in value. I've never paid for import duties on small items like this.

Kal

**CodeRage** · 11-12-2010, 04:00 PM

I bought some generic Chinese PIDs off of ebay once and they were complete crap. Had issues with the the control output turning on when it should have been off. The documentation sucked, It didnt explain how to change the probe type. I ended up finding the device they had knocked off and read their manual to get the procedure.

I bought 5 PIDs. I was saving about 100 bucks over the auber pids, which I thought was worth the risk at the time. I ended up buying 5 more PIDs from auberins due to the unexpected and strange behavior of these things.

bbognerks · 11-13-2010, 01:03 AM

I can't remember the brand those were now. Last week or so I was researching PIDs as well. I did find the manufacturer of those, but there was zero documentation online anywhere. I would probably steer clear of those and go with the Auber Instruments ones.

IF you really want to save a little cash, I was able to find another one from Sestos that seemed to be pretty good. Check out my other thread about them.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/sestos-pid-temperature-controllers-d1s-vr-220-a-203939/

The good thing is they have a manual mode. If you go with those though, make sure to get the D1S-VR-220 as it is the one with SSR control.